Whitecoat Health Service Directory, commonly referred to as Whitecoat, is an online directory of healthcare professionals. It was launched in Australia in 2013 and New Zealand in 2018. The service allows consumers to rate their experience of a healthcare provider and read other users’ recommendations and reviews."nib Launches Whitecoat Website, Draws Professional Anger"
"Bite Magazine", Retrieved 23 March 2016 By 2016, Whitecoat was the largest website of its kind in Australia."1st Available ASX Announcement"
"Australian Stock Exchange", Retrieved 23 March 2016 Whitecoat has drawn significant criticism from professional medical bodies.

Overview

Whitecoat provides contact details and ratings information for more than 210,000 Australian healthcare providers"Health Disruption to Health Care - by Health Funds and Major Investors"
"i2p News", Retrieved 23 March 2016 across 120 different provider types, including dentists, optometrists, and physiotherapists. Along with providing publicly available contact details for different healthcare providers, the Whitecoat website carries ratings information regarding availability, listening skills, explanation of treatment and likelihood to recommend as well as comments from customers about their overall service experience. The site has been likened to being the Trip Advisor of the healthcare sector.

History

Whitecoat was launched by NIB Health Funds."New Website Whitecoat Lets NIB Users Compare Physiotherapists, Dentists and Chiropractors"
"News.com.au", Retrieved 23 March 2016 In 2016, Bupa and HBF signed a heads of agreement to join nib as investors and participants in expanding the Whitecoat healthcare provider platform,"Media Release - 29th July 2016"
Retrieved 4 August 2016"Bupa, HBF join nib's Whitecoat website ahead of roll out of surgeon reviews"
Retrieved 4 August 2016 increase its reach to approximately six million Australians. Also in 2016, Whitecoat announced its plans to provide consumers with cost transparency of medical procedures on its website, as a result of 2014-15 NIB claims data that revealed significant fee variations paid to medical specialists, which left consumers with out-of-pocket costs. At the same time, Whitecoat announced it would also allow consumers to book and pay for treatment through the Whitecoat platform and apps. As of 2018, Whitecoat has 65,000 health care providers listed on its website, including 16,000 Specialists and 11,000 General Practitioners, and had between 4 and 5 million visitors per year and 575,000 moderated reviews from patients. As of 2020, Whitecoat has 450,000 visitors per month, 120 modalities between GP, allied and specialists, 325,000 providers listed, 1.2 million Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency moderated reviews. In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Whitecoat launched a

Telehealth Telehealth is the distribution of health-related services and information via electronic information and telecommunication technologies. It allows long-distance patient and clinician contact, care, advice, reminders, education, intervention, mon ...

service to connect patients and telehealth providers in both Australia and New Zealand. Later that year Whitecoat launched native mobile apps, ''Whitecoat Pro'' for providers to process Medicare, Allied and Scheme payments and claims, and ''MyWhitecoat'' for consumers to approve payments and claims and manage their healthcare.

Criticism

Whitecoat's launch was met with significant criticism from medical professionals and bodies. President of the

Australian Medical Association The Australian Medical Association (AMA) is an Australian public company by guarantee formed as a professional association for Australian doctors and medical students. The association is not run by the Australian Government and does not regul ...

(AMA) Steve Hambleton expressed concern the website would give undue criticism to medical professionals who choose to see higher-risk patients, and accordingly have higher rates of adverse outcomes. In 2016, the AMA expressed concerns surgeons would avoid operating on such high-risk patients if the complications rates were published.

Australian Dental Association The Australian Dental Association (ADA) is a national body for the dental profession in Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia ( ...

vice president Carmelo Bonanno said the website reviews failed to adequately represent the entire patient's experience with a healthcare provider, describing the service as "a cheap marketing exercise and nothing more.” In 2018, Whitecoat launched in New Zealand.

Association of Salaried Medical Specialists The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS) is a trade union in New Zealand that represents the professional and industrial interests of just over 5000 senior salaried doctors and dentists employed by public hospitals and other employ ...

president Ian Powell subsequently expressed fears for the safety of medical professionals, saying "What happens if a doctor initiates child protection proceedings because they are concerned about a child's well-being, and one of the parents involved subsequently rates the doctor poorly or posts negative comments? There are circumstances in which comments posted on the website could post an actual danger to the doctor's safety, for example when doctors perform abortions or carry out other treatment or procedures that some individuals or groups find contentious."

References

{{reflist Healthcare in Australia